


Silvery grey

by loewen_grube



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Harm, F/F, Hunting, idek what else to add here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 20:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loewen_grube/pseuds/loewen_grube
Summary: Ash is always grateful for Tyra's company, and so she decides to get her a gift.





	Silvery grey

“Nice pelt.”

Tyra looks over herself, like she did not remember wearing said item. Upon her shoulders is a wolf pelt, brown and grey. It looks way more eye-catching compared to her usual bear pelt, and to be honest, Ash thinks it looks better on her than her old one, but she can’t tell that, can she?

The huntress smiles. “Thank you. I have been attempting to wear varieties, recently, now that it’s winter.”

“Oh? Do you just have a lot of fur pelts lying around your home?”

“I hunt and make cloaks on a regular basis.” Fingers pull the fur cloak closer to herself, running her hands through animal hair as she explains. “Some of them I sell, some of them I keep, like this. There are just amazing stories with things you make yourself.”

Oh, how Ash knows those. Tyra has already told her a lot of tales, some less grandiose than ones you hear from war veterans, but still worth listening to. She would listen to Tyra tell all sorts of stories any day.

“You might wanna tell them to me someday.” Ash timidly pats the fluff of fur near Tyra’s neck. “Damn, these are soft.”

The huntress just laughs. “Maybe next time we hunt together, you can take down one for yourself!”

“I’ve tried before, but I guess you always beat me to it.”

“That’s because a hunter’s first kill is important, so it has to be challenging! No fun if I just give it to you outright, that would be boring.”

“Well, I’ll get it soon.”

Tyra smiles, but later had to excuse herself due to some issues she have to take care of. Once she has fully left, however, Ash finally felt her heartbeat pound against her chest.

* * *

Ash has spent a lot of time with Tyra, and it is honestly starting to feel like something else entirely. She cannot put words on it, and yet it feels… certain. Special. Something she felt like giving something into.

She’s not even sure if she knows. Ash has not told anyone, but she has made a lot of efforts to become closer. She follows everytime Tyra invites her to hunt, she listens when she tells a story, she invites her to train and eat out and hang out, and she tells when she asks what’s wrong. Tyra considers her a friend, a very close one. But Ash is not sure if it can be pushed any farther.

She doesn’t mind if she never knows. She’s happy with everything and where they are. But she feels like pushing the boundary a little farther with something. Just one thing to show off with–

Oh…. _yeah._

A pelt. An animal. Her first kill. It is the most important thing to a hunter, she says?

Then it is the most fitting thing she can give.

She didn’t even think twice before she runs to the one person she knows she can ask for help.

* * *

 

Ash underestimated this.

Lian was kind but teasing over her advice, and it made her regret asking her for help. She was a bit curious on Ash’s apparent interest with the huntress, but she later on decided it was better to not ask.  

Ash had gone with Tyra in several hunts, and has learned a great deal from watching her, however she is to admit that sometimes she gets distracted with the wonder that is the woman with her, and sometimes ends up forgetting half of what she says or what she does. There is a certain strength that comes with hunting, and a certain intelligence to survive what feels like an unjust mother nature. She considered it training everytime she followed Tyra around to hunt, but Ash regrets not listening a little more closer.

The second Lian took out a crossbow to lend her, Ash started feeling like it is not a good idea. She can use a crossbow, sure. But it has been years since she last put her hands on a trigger that is not her cannon’s.

“I trust that you know what you are doing.” Lian passed the crossbow to the war machine’s hands. “After all, you’re the one following our dear huntress around.”

“Yeah, yeah, I do.”

Despite Lian’s snarking,  Ash pushed through with the hunt, anyway. She picked out a set of leather armor that does not make much noise, a coat to protect her from the snow outside, made sure she had enough crossbow bolts, and proceeded with the hunt.

Soon, Ash has found herself a beautiful silvery gray wolf. She can already imagine it. Tyra would look so amazing with that.

Tracking it was easy. The snow muffled her footsteps. Getting a good shot was also somewhat easy, once she remembered how to use a crossbow. Killing it is as easy as aiming and firing.

But that was the problem, Ash discovered – she now has a wolf with a crossbow bolt wedged in its eye. Now what? She has yanked out the bolt from the wolf’s eye, cleaned everything before the blood attracts unwanted attention. She rummages through her pack, and she realized to her horror that she left her knife behind.

_… Now what?_

Ash can’t just leave this here. She worked so hard for it. But attempting to carve and skin the wolf with her limited supplies will turn out horrible – she knew in herself that she is not that skilled.

Hell, even if I did have the knife, I doubt I can skin it as well as she can…

Her only option was bringing it back into the base…

* * *

The war machine finds her way back in Crosswind Hold, dead wolf in hand and snow on her hair. She hid it in cloth and padded it with whatever snow she can find, but now she looks like she’s carrying around a dead, freezing body and she was trying to clean up her act. She soon finds her way into her room, and drops her game on the table.

_‘I’m such an idiot.’_  Ash looks at the wolf carcass on her table as she unwraps the cloth and the slightly melted snow. It’s as dead as she remember it, but it is starting to look funky. ‘ _I should have at least asked if Tyra wanted another wolf. What do I even do with this? What if she doesn’t fucking want it? It’s my first kill I’m giving her, that has to be something, right? What the hell do I even d–’_

Someone knocks on her door. Ash slaps the cover back on the dead animal in surprise.

“Hello?”

The door creaks open, and a familiar face peeks in.

“…Tyra? What are you doing here?”

The huntress opens the door a little more, obviously debating about going in. “Did you not call me? Lian told me you were looking for me.”

_… Lian. Of course._

“…yeah, that’s true.”

Tyra enters the room, but she pauses as she saw Ash, still in her snowed-in coat and beet-red from the cold. “You went out.”

“I just got back.” “Well, since you’re here, I might as well… give you, because I have no idea what else to do with it… uh…” she fumbles with words like she didn’t know how to use them. “I have something for you.”

“Which is…?”

Ash motions to the dead wolf, and takes off the cover. “Uh, well… I hunted this–” she gestures to the wolf like she is showing off something else that is not a dead body– “And I want you to have it.”

Tyra did not answer. At least, for a few moments.

She looked at the carcass of the wolf, then at Ash, then at the wolf. Ash grew scared, unsure of what she thinks. Tyra just looked at the wolf for a solid minute.

“I was planning to make you a new pelt,” Ash explains. Oh man, she thought, this is not turning out well. She can feel her voice falter, and she can definitely feel Tyra looking at her like she needs an explanation. “But I did not know what to do with it. I’m…not as skilled as you, I could not skin it, I lost my knife somewhere along the trail, and–”

“You killed…?” Tyra gestures to the carcass, speaking after a few moments.

“Y-Yeah. Just earlier. I just got back.”

Tyra walks past Ash and steps closer to inspect the wolf. It felt like an exam, Ash thought, turning around to watch her say whatever she wants about her handiwork. It’s like she is judging how well the kill is.

The huntress pokes on the wolf’s head. “You shot it in the eye. That’s… that’s actually very impressive.”

“It is?”

She pauses, looking at the wolf again.

And then Ash sees her wipe tears off her cheeks–

“Tyra, are you crying? I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”

And then she laughs. Tyra giggles and laughs and tries not to cry, and she held onto Ash trying to ground herself. Worry is written all over Ash’s face, unsure how to react to this.

“You’re so good, you’re so very good, and you’re giving this to me, oh, that’s so very sweet of you, I don’t even know what to say–”

“It’s a gift! For all your niceness and being cool and all that! God, I’d love to explain further, but this is all I can think of–”

“That’s your first kill! And you’re giving it to me?”

“Y-yeah.” Ash smiles. She had no doubt about it before, but it is true – she learned a lot. And she enjoyed all of it with her, and she would go on more hunting trips as much as Tyra likes. “I thought you’d like it. Do you–”

Her coat-wrapped self is suddenly enveloped with more warmth as Tyra wraps her arms around her torso. She could not tell, with the weird noises she’s making, if she’s crying or laughing. But she assumes it’s a good thing, that she did indeed like it. Ash wraps her in her arms, and she can feel all the fatigue from hunting melt away. “Yeah, I guess you do like dead wolves as a gift, huh?”

“It’s from you.” Tyra’s voice was muffled by the coat. “It’d always be great.”

Oh.

_Oh._

_Oh shit._

_That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever told me._

“Now come, come, let’s celebrate!” Tyra pulls away from the hug, but her smile is ear to ear, excited and expectant. “Get off that coat, let’s work on this thing! Your first kill must look cool and taste great, too!”

* * *

 

Ash have not seen Tyra until a few days later, walking into the match, smiling from ear to ear. Upon her shoulders is a wolf pelt, silvery gray. It looks way more eye-catching compared to her usual bear pelt, and to be honest, Ash thinks it looks better on her than her old one, but she can’t tell that, can she?

Who is she kidding? Of course, she can.

Many of the other champions have praised her for it, and Ash always overhear her saying it is very dear to her everytime someone asks. Her pelt makes her look like a noble she did not deserve to have upon her presence, and the fact that it is suddenly such an important item to her makes her feel butterflies.

“Dear.”

Her thoughts were cut short. Tyra twirls a little, showing off the cloak. Ash just smiles, answering whatever question Tyra was about to ask. She always looks amazing, but Ash feels a sense of accomplishment and pride to be able to hunt something Tyra of all people would wear.

“I have something for you.”

“Which is…?”

She takes out a necklace. Tied on it is a half a fang of a wolf. That wolf, if her guess is right, judging from the size of it. It matches the pendant of a choker around her neck, one that she didn’t notice until now.

“It took me a while to cut, but I think it looks perfect as is, yes?” The huntress sets aside her rifle to adjust the length of the leather strings, before placing it around Ash’s neck.

“Your kill.” Voice soft, she pats the half fang. “Still your kill. Next time we take one down together.”

It’s now Ash’s turn to smile.


End file.
